Welcome to the family

Every team does their “thing”, but most successful programs have one thing in common. They care more about the kid than they do the kids running success.

That’s our “thing.”

Who cares what you win or lose? Who cares how fast you run? As a distance coach I spend nearly every day of the year with or trying to help my athletes. And I love it! Why? Because I have the opportunity to work with young men and women I would consider part of my family. Actually, they are a part of my family! My wife gets upset with them when they knock on the door when we have a team event at our house. Family is always welcome in my house no questions asked!

We start the summer like most with a team event where we try to not only introduce the freshmen to the running family but also to tighten the bond we have with each other. The journey we are setting out on is much easier to do as a family and not as a group of individuals working for a goal. November is the only month of racing importance for our program, but the steps along the way are what make success in November achievable. Some programs don’t use words like work hard, sacrifice, or suffer. We do! And every day I give thanks and recognize the fact that most kids are not willing to do what they do. I get to work with the best of the best. I get to work with my family!

Let’s be honest it’s not a 5x1000m or 16x200m that make or break our teams. It’s enjoying the suffering and enjoying the journey. We don’t play games, we don’t frolic on runs. We work hard. Really, really hard. But we embrace it and understand the work we put in rewards us. Not always by trophies or medals, but by pushing the human body as hard as it will go and asking for more. My family gives me a sad look when I cut their mileage back. My family loves to work. By the end of the summer we’ll know what we have. Will we have the bond of a family or will we have a group of individuals working for a goal? 2017, we have a family.

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ITCCCA’s objectives are as follows:

• To promote interest, enthusiasm, and improvement in track and cross-country in Northern Illinois.

• To provide education and opportunity for involvement for every coach in our association by methodology. We also strive to bring in outstanding coaches and athletes from the college ranks.

• To promote, publicize, and recognize achievement of our area athletes and coaches.

• To request the feelings of schools, coaches, and athletes of our area on rule changes, administration of track and cross-country meets to the IHSA. We strive to provide a voice representing the needs and interests of Northern Illinois in any decisions regarding track and cross-country in the state of Illinois.

• To work with and generally support the Illinois High School Association.

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The views and opinions expressed on this web site are solely those of the original authors and/or other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the ITCCCA-N board, members, coaches, and/or any/all contributors to this site.